Book Review of The One-Straw Revolution

The One-Straw Revolution

Book Review of 

#TheOne-StrawRevolution

1. Author – Masanobu FukuokaLanguage – Japanese
   
2. Genre – Non- fictional, Organic farming, Philosophy.
3. Publication Date:  1992
4. Media type – print
5. Pages – 180
6. Price – Rs 150

About the author and the book –

Born - Shikoku, Japan 

Date of birth - January 02, 1913

Died - August 16, 20

#Masanobu Fukuoka was born in 1914 in a small farming village on the island of Shikoku in Southern Japan. He was educated in microbiology and worked as a soil scientist specializing in plant pathology. At the age of twenty-five he began to have doubts about the wonders of modern agriculture science.

In his 60's, Fukuoka sat down to document what he had seen and done. In 1975 his first book One Straw Revolution was released and has had a deep impact on agriculture and human consciousness all over the world. The book is an all-time classic. One Straw Revolution was followed by The Natural Way of Farming and then by The Road Back To Nature.

Since 1979, Fukuoka has been touring, giving lectures and sowing the seeds of natural farming all over the world. In 1988 he was given Deshikottan Award, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award. In 1997 he received the Earth Council Award.

Fukuoka was inspired by Buddha and Gandhi. In Fukuoka’s words-

I believe that Gandhi’s way, a method less method, acting with a non-winning, non-opposing state of mind, is akin to natural farming. When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.

 Fukuoka in this book further says -

Fast rather than slow, more rather than less – this flashy ‘development’ is linked directly to society’s impending collapse. It has only served to separate man from nature. Humanity must stop indulging the desire for material possessions and personal gain and move instead toward spiritual awareness.

The book is divided into five parts.

 The first sentence of the first chapter begins like this -

I believe that a revolution can begin from this one strand of straw. Seen at a glance, this rice straw may appear light and insignificant. Hardly anyone would believe that it could start a revolution. But I have come to realize the weight and power of this straw. For me, this revolution is very real.

Fukuoka realized that nature was perfect just as it was. He believed that problems in nature only arose when humans tried to improve upon nature and use the countryside solely for their own benefit. He became an advocate of no-till, no-herbicide grain cultivation farming methods traditional to many indigenous cultures, by creating a particular method of farming, commonly referred to as ‘Natural Farming’ or ‘Do-nothing Farming’.

He adopted four principles for farming this land, which are as follows:

Ø        The first is No Cultivation – that is no plowing or turning of the soil.

Ø       The second is No Chemical Fertilizer Or Prepared Compost. People interfere with nature,      and try, as they may, they cannot heal the resulting wounds.

Ø       The third is No Weeding By Tillage Or Herbicides. Weeds play a part in building soil     fertility   and in balancing the biological community.

Ø     The fourth is No Dependence On Chemicals. From the time that weak plants developed as a result of such unnatural practices as plowing and fertilizing, disease and insect imbalance became a great problem in agriculture.

Fukuoka demonstrates how the way we look at farming influences the way we look at health, the school, nature, nutrition, spiritual health and life itself. He joins the healing of the land to the process of purifying the human spirit and proposes a way of life and a way of farming in which such healing can take place.

About food habits he says-

At first people ate simply because they were alive and because food was tasty. Modern people have come to think that if they do not prepare food with elaborate seasonings, the meal will be tasteless. If you do not try to make food delicious, you will find that nature has made it so.

This book is a call to all of us to abandon modern agriculture methods that use pesticides and insecticides and are destroying our earth as well as our health. The book advocates return to natural farming and preserving the earth for future generations. The final message thus is–

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.